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Popsicle, Lock & Drop It

At first I thought I didn’t have much of a story for this recipe, but then I remembered what happened the first time I made these yummy margarita popsicles. It was a hot summer day, and after spending an hour hand-juicing some limes, I went outside to relax by the pool. Fast forward two days and I woke up with red splotchy spots all over both of my hands. At first I thought it was a sunburn because it looked and felt exactly like one, but I did think it seemed unlikely that I would’ve only gotten burnt on my hands. The next day, the splotchy spots had become raised and bumpy, and I will spare you the rest of the graphic details but just imagine that it got progressively worse. After a trip to the dermatologist I found out that I had phytophotodermatitis, also known as “lime disease” or “margarita dermatitis” (thanks Wikipedia). Apparently there’s a reaction caused by lime juice and a few other substances that makes skin hypersensitive to ultraviolet light, and essentially causes chemical burns (thanks again, Wikipedia). There’s not much you can do for it except apply steroid cream and wait for it to go away on its own. Luckily what I had wasn’t that bad, but it still took about 6-8 months before my hands looked totally normal again. So, heed my warning and be very careful, wash your hands, or just do not go out in the sun after making these! And now, on to the pops.

These pops are a favorite amongst the friends who have had them. They’re super refreshing and taste somewhere between a margarita and key lime pie. They do have tequila in them, although it’s not a huge amount since too much tequila = semi frozen pops. The original recipe called for 1/4 C but I upped it to 1/2 C and it still froze fine. I haven’t been daring enough to try more than that yet. Of course, they can obviously also be made without the tequila. In that case I would recommend replacing the tequila with more water. I’ve also toyed with the idea of adding strawberry to the mix to make strawberry margarita pops, which would probably be delicious! I don’t think I’ll be making these again this summer but hopefully next summer I will try the strawberry. Until then, enjoy these yummy margarita popsicles.

Hmmm I forgot about the sea salt when I actually served these… oops. Also, not pictured: orange juice.

Juicing the limes on a hand juicer.

My brother helped me cut lime slices. He used a cup to measure where on the lime to slice so that the slice would fit perfectly in the top of the cup. Each slice is probably about 1/4 inch thick.

The mixture poured out into 14 cups. Since I used a little extra lime juice and double the amount of tequila, I was able to get two more popsicles than the original recipe. I guess it evens out to about the same amount of tequila in each one.

After filling the cups 90% of the way, push popsicle sticks through the centers of the lime slices and fit them into the tops of the cups. I pushed them down until I could see the liquid starting to come up a little bit.

I had to use a scissor to snip the edge of the cup, and then peel the cup off of the pop. It should come off pretty easily. You can sprinkle some sea salt on the tray or on the pops, or put out a little dipping bowl of salt, or completely forget to do that like I did. All of these were snatched up as soon as I brought them outside so I didn’t have to worry about them melting, but you can also arrange them on a tray of crushed ice if you’d like.

Creamy Margarita Popsicles

1 1/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 12 limes, since you will need to cut slices out of them for the bottoms of the popsicles)

1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup water

1/2 cup tequila

2 tablespoons orange juice

kosher salt or margarita salt for serving

12 (3oz) Dixie cups

12 small popsicle sticks

Directions:

Cut one 1/4 inch thick round slice from each lime. You can put the end of the lime in a cup as you cut to make sure the rounds will fit nicely inside the cups (see photo above). Squeeze the rest of the limes for lime juice.

In a pitcher or large cocktail shaker, combine the lime juice, sweetened condensed milk, water, tequila, and orange juice. It is important to combine the ingredients in a container that has a spout because it will make it much easier to pour the mix into cups.

Line out the Dixie cups on a baking sheet, so it will be easy to transport them to the freezer. Fill each Dixie cup 90% of the way with the tequila mixture.

Push a popsicle stick through the center of each lime round, so that half of the stick pokes out from each side. Top the mixture with the lime sticks. Make sure the lime is resting directly on top of the tequila mixture.

Freeze for at least 6 hours, or overnight. When ready to remove the popsicles from the Dixie cups, simply snip a small cut in the rim of each cup and peel them away from the popsicle. Place the popsicles onto a dish with crushed ice to keep them from melting too quickly, sprinkle the tops generously with kosher salt (optional), and serve.